In this fucked up world, even with K having my ring on her finger, my kid in her gut, and my last name, she is still owned by Nikolai.
I refuse to accept that. I’d rather kill K with my own hands than ever see her back in the industry that stole the light from her eyes. Then I’d turn my gun on myself. That’s how far I’ll go to protect her, so hacking into Nikolai’s private file should barely create a rippling of guilt, right?
Fucking wrong.
My guilt is horrendous, even more so when I notice Nikolai awarded me an equal share of his assets along with Rico in the event Justine is incapable of accepting the terms of his will.
Although I could own 50% of K, it isn’t enough.
She’s mine wholeheartedly.
I’m not willing to risk that for anything.
“I need you to execute a sale transfer receipt…” When the pin-dick weasel on the monitor in front of me immediately commences shaking his head, I talk faster. “I wasn’t asking. I’m telling you what you’re doing. You will execute a sale of an asset like you did many times for Vladimir before his long-winded demise.”
While Eight works Mr. Schluter’s face over with the butt of his gun. I log out of the file and into my personal banking app. Eight’s beatdown splits open the old geezer’s right brow, but not enough he can’t see what he’s doing.
Once I’ve transferred the one point two million dollar payment men in my industry believe Nikolai paid for K from my account into Nikolai’s personal account, I pull up the asset transfer software the Popovs use for all sales. My already woozy head gets thrust into a black void of my past when the transfer receipt number is eerily similar to the number Achim used when he gifted K to Vladimir. If you switched out the last two digits, it would be the same number I punched into the lock of K’s cell.
With my head teetering between the past and present, I fill in the document as if it was done by Nikolai last month before forwarding it to Mr. Schluter’s law firms email address. “Execute it.” When he shakes his head, I grip the screen of Nikolai’s computer like it’s Mr. Schluter’s scrawny neck and scream, “Execute it… or I’ll execute you! Five… Four… Three… Two…”
I suck in my first breath in what feels like days when the whoosh of an email landing into my inbox sounds through my ears. It’s the executed sale document that proves without doubt that I purchased K from Nikolai weeks before he disappeared.
After slouching low in my chair, I lock my eyes with Eight’s through the monitor. “Let him go.”
“You sure?” He drags his teeth over the piercing in the corner of his lower lip to hide his smile. “This fucker made you count. I know that’s not your strong point.”
I’m about to hit Eight with a stern finger point, but before I can, Nero darts into Nikolai’s office, out of breath and red-faced. “They found them… Her… On the freeway. In Vegas.”
While he takes a moment to catch his breath, I drop my eyes to Eight. “Get back here now.” My last word has barely left my mouth when he strikes Mr. Schluter across the temple, knocking him out, before our connection is lost.
After joining Nero in the doorway, I ask, “Who was found?”
“Justine. Courier spotted her coming back from a run. She’s pretty nicked up—”
“But alive.”Thank fuck.
Nero bounces on my shoulder like he did when Eight announced K and I had married. “Yep! Now we just need her to lead us to Nikolai.”
“How far out is she?”
Nero checks his wrist like he’s a soft cock who wears a watch. “Guess would be ten, fifteen minutes. She was a fair way out. Nothing much out there but sticks and canyons.”
After calculating how long it will take Eight to get from Schluter & Fletcher Law Firm to here, I tell Nero to wake Justine’s brother before sending word to the men at Clarks to suit up. If Justine is alone, we’ll need to go in heavy, as there’s no way Nikolai would have let Justine leave his side unless it was vital. He’s as protective of her as I am K.
I grab Nero’s elbow before he hightails it out of Nikolai’s office. “Keep things simple with Maddox. Until we know whose team he’s on, treat him as you would Dimitri. He didn’t have a Petretti visiting him every month in prison for no reason.”
Nero jerks up his chin before he races for the stairwell that leads to the sleeping quarters. I wait for him to disappear down the landing before shifting on my feet to face K. She’s awake and peering at me through scrunched brows. She knows what I’m going to say before my head even formulates how to say it.
“I need you to go with Eight for a couple of days.” She immediately commences shaking her head. “I wasn’t asking, Duchess. It’s not safe for you here right now. I shouldn’t have kept you here as long as I have.”
Guilt for snooping into Nikolai’s private life is partly responsible for my decision, but I also know this is the right thing to do. Whether this is a turf war or a takeover bid, blood is about to be shed. Justine was found near Vegas. That means the carnage will occur here. That makes it unsafe for both K and our baby.
Just as I reach the sofa K is sitting on, still shaking her head, a pair of headlights beam into Nikolai’s office from outside. Since they have the old retro curved design most classic cars have instead of the modern square shape of Nikolai’s armored fleet, I scoop K into my arms. Although it would be safer for my nuts to carry her like a groom does a bride, I’d rather my family jewels be damaged with a knee than steal K’s chance to stand up for herself. She’s only just learned how to do that, so I’ll avoid having it lost for anything.
As I walk K through P’s, she kicks and thrashes against me like she did last week when I dragged her away from West, but this fight comes with a handful of tears and heavily-accented begs. “No. Trey. Please. I stay. We stay.”
When Eight spots K’s tearstained face a second after we burst through the back entrance of P’s, he curses into the humid night air before he races around to the passenger side of his car to open the door for me. “Where do you want me to take her?”
